French man fined for illegally downloading Rihanna songs
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Buy SPH photosBESANCON, France (AFP) - A French man Thursday became the first victim of a new law aimed at clamping down on film and music piracy when he was fined 150 euros (S$237) for illegally downloading Rihanna songs.
The Internet piracy enforcement agency Hadopi was mandated by the government in 2009 to send warning letters to Internet service provider (ISP) subscribers found to be downloading content without authorisation.
The law forces ISPs to hand over personal details of offending IP addresses after sifting through them to hunt out those breaching piracy regulations.
Hadopi was authorised to take legal action if a third warning was ignored.
